Cross country takes silver in Monmouth Kick-off

The Seton Hall men’s and women’s cross country teams both took home silver in their opening match at the Monmouth Cross Country Kick-off. The Pirates had the men’s and women’s leaders in individual time, as well as a total of five runners who finished inside the top-10.

The women’s team had a total time of 1:14:55, just two seconds behind first place. Christiana Rutkowski led the Hall, and all women runners with a 4K time of 14:27.7, while teammate Emily Johnson came in fourth place with a time of 14:45.9. Kiley Britten and Olivia Hernandez also placed well for the Pirates, both inside the top-15. The display was a step forward for the Pirates, who finished in third place at last year’s Kick-off.

Photo via SHU Athletics

The men’s team matched the women by also coming in second place in its 6K. The team’s total time was 1:37:24, over two minutes behind Monmouth, who took both events. Jacob Simon led all males, running his 6K in 19:04.4. Fellow Pirates Jesse Southard, Jarod Moser and Jeff Larson all finished in the top-15 with times under 20 minutes. The men also took a step up on their third place finish from last year.

Despite not taking gold, the Pirates had a runners place in the top 25 of their respective races. Next up for Seton Hall cross country is a match at Stony Brook on Sept. 9.

Mat Mlodzinski can be reached at matthew.mlodzinski@student@shu.edu or on Twitter @Mlodzinski_15.